THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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wood," "red brush," "kinnikinnik," "squaw- 

 bush," "swamp dogwood," etc. 



This species has often served as a substitute 

 for quinine, decoctions being made from the 

 bark and tender twigs. The fresh bark is 

 chopped, pounded, mixed with alcohol, and 

 filtered. The resulting tincture is of a beau- 

 tiful madder color and possesses anodor like 

 that of the sugar cane when its juices are 

 slightly soured. The Indians scrape the inner 

 bark and smoke it in their pipes when tobacco 

 is scarce. 



BAYBERRY 



Myrica carolinensis Mill [Plate IV] 



.Belonging to the Myricaceae family, the bay- 

 berry is a cousin of the sweet fern and the 

 sweet gale. It is known also as "bay myrtle" 

 and "tallow shrub." Its favorite place of abode 

 is sandy soil, and its habitat extends from 

 Alaska and Nova Scotia to Florida. It owes 

 its names "waxberry" and "tallow shrub" to 

 the service which it rendered to the colonists 

 in America. Animal fats were not overplenti- 

 ful in those days; but the farmer had a large 

 family of children, and he believed that they 

 could gather berries for making candles with 

 more edification than they could play — accord- 

 ing to the stern Puritan views of the times. 



Candles made from bayberry wax are more 

 brittle and less greasy than those made from 

 tallow. They are a curious, almost transparent 

 green, and when the flame is put out the re- 

 sulting odor is as sweet and pungent as in- 

 cense. 



The bark and roots of the bayberry possess 

 medicinal properties. The roots, when boiled, 

 3*ield a tea reputed to be a specific for head- 

 ache ; to the bark are attributed properties 

 valuable in the treatment of jaundice and in 

 making soothing poultices for sores and ulcers. 

 The Scotch Highlanders use the leaves, which 

 are bitter and aromatic, as a substitute for 

 hops in the brewing of beer, it being alleged 

 that they increase the intoxicating effect of 

 that beverage. 



The Highland clan Campbell wears the sweet 

 • gale, the Scotch edition of the bayberry, as its 

 family badge. 



MAPLELEAF ARROWWOOD 



Viburnum acerifolium (L,.) [Plate IV] 



The mapleleaf arrowwood is a member of 

 the honeysuckle family, having as cousins the 

 elders, the hobble-bushes, the sweeet vibur- 

 nums, the black haws, the bush-honeysuckles, 

 the coral-berries, the snowberries, and the 

 horse gentians. It is a shrub, from three to 

 five feet high, and, except for its flowers and 

 fruit, would pass almost anywhere as a young 

 maple shoot. 



With dense, spreading foliage, the bush has 

 a preference for the shade of woodland thick- 

 ets. Ranging from New Brunswick and Min- 

 nesota on the north to Kentucky and Georgia 

 on the south, it prefers rocky, broken ground 

 rather than damp soils. The heights back of 



the Palisades of the Hudson are favorite 

 haunts of the viburnum. 



The bayberry grows in almost sterile soil 

 A close relative of the snowball tree, this 

 species bears profuse clusters of small, white, 

 scentless blossoms. The fruit is a dark, pur- 

 plish berry the size of a pea. 



AMERICAN CRANBERRY 



Oxycoccus macrocarpus (Ait.) 

 [Plate V] 



Pursn, 



Together with blueberries, huckleberries, 

 snowberries, trailing arbutus, and wintergreen, 

 the cranberry belongs to the heath family, 

 which also embraces the azaleas, the lilacs, the 

 laurels, the rhododendrons, the heathers, and 

 some of the rosebays and rosemaries. 



The plant is a trailing evergreen, with a 

 rather stout stem, growing from one to four 

 feet long. It is very tough, in spite of its deli- 

 cate proportions, and is found in open bogs 

 and swamps from Newfoundland to western 

 Wisconsin, with scattered colonies as far 

 south as the Carolinas and Arkansas. Its fa- 

 vorite haunts, however, are in Massachusetts. 

 New Jersey, northern Michigan, and Wiscon- 

 sin. June time is blossom time in cranberry 

 land, and its flowers are as pink and pretty as 

 its berries are round and red. The former are 

 tube-shaped and pendant from slender, sway- 

 ing stems. 



First domesticated about 1810, not until some 

 four decades later did its merits become widely 

 known and its berries find their way into the 

 homes of the people of the nation. Today the 

 estimated production is around fifty million 

 quarts a year — a pint for every human being 

 in the United States. 



SWEET ELDER 

 Sambucus canadensis (L.) [Plate V] 



Ranging from Nova Scotia to Manitoba and 

 from Florida to Texas, with colonies in the 

 West Indies, the sweet elder climbs mountains 

 and gladdens valleys alike. 



The brittle twigs and young sprouts are full 

 of pith, while the older stalks are nearly solid. 

 The hardy leaves are often seen unchanged in 

 hue, frozen stirT on the stems, in December. 

 So repugnant to insects is the odor of the sweet 

 elder that an eighteenth century gardener 

 recommends that cabbages, turnips, etc., be 

 whipped with young elder twigs to preserve 

 them from insect ravages. An infusion of 

 elder leaves is often used today to keep bugs 

 from vines. 



The clustered flowers of the elder remind 

 one of mellow old lace. They give off a heavy, 

 sweetish, and to many people a rather sicken- 

 ing odor. The flowers appear from June to 

 August. Elder flower water is much used by 

 the confectioner. A perfume made with the 

 flowers, distilled water, and rectified spirits 

 serves to flavor wines and jellies. The young 

 buds are sometimes pickled like capers. The 

 dried flowers contain a volatile oil, resin, wax, 



